COMMENTARY

Old Testament: Jeremiah 18:1-11
Jeremiah's parable of the potter. In a potter's house, Yahweh speaks to Jeremiah non-verbally. Upon Yahweh's direction, Jeremiah goes to a potter's house and watches him make and re-make vessels. When the potter makes a mistake and the vessel turns out badly, he reworks the clay into another vessel that pleases him. Yahweh is saying: "That is what I can do with Judah. I can destroy Judah and re-make it into a people pleasing to me." Judah has a chance of a survival if she repents.

Epistle: Philemon 1:1-21
Paul writes to Philemon to take back Onesimus not as a slave but as a brother in Christ. Onesimus, a run-away slave, is caught and put in the same prison with Paul who leads him to Christ. Paul writes to his master, Philemon, to take Onesimus…